In the economy and omniscience of God, it was intended that mortality be a time of trial, a place of struggle. And it is in his extremities, in the fiery flames of adversity, that man often finds the needed motivation to search out and come to know his God.
It is not to be supposed that gospel covenants and promises shelter man from the winds and storms which come to all; indeed, acceptance of the responsibilities of mortality and the agreement to be in the world but not of the world presuppose that the Saints of the Most High will “suffer for well doing” (1 Peter 3:17), will undergo “tribulation in their Redeemer’s name” (D&C 138:13). Since the Saints have been called upon to bear greater burdens, a merciful God endows them with a power from on high, with vision and strength that they, even in suffering, might have dominion over all things. The promise is sure that
“whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 36:3).
Such had been the blessing granted to their fathers in Egypt. Though taskmasters were set to scourge them, “the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew” (Exodus 1:11-12).